There is irony and, then, there is irony. That there is a constituency to keep alternate side of the street parking regulations in place in Park Slope rather than temporarily suspending them is irony. Now that the rush has worn off a suspension of anywhere from three weeks to three months, there appears to be a small and growing group in the neighborhood against the change (which is needed to replace signs as the street cleaning time is reduced from 3 hours to 90 minutes). Today’s Times zooms in in the opposition with a story headlined “New Parking Rules Receive Wary Welcome.” The Daily News, meanwhile, focuses on the neighborhood’s “joy.” (Clearly, there are conflicted feelings.) GL asked City Council Member Bill de Blasio for his take on the change. “I commend DOT for changing the alternate-side rules,” Mr. de Blasio said. “This is something that Community Board 6 and I have worked for years to make happen.” He added, however, that “the temporary suspension of alternate-side parking rules in Park Slope should not be an excuse for people to park their car in a spot for weeks on end.” Mr. de Blasio told GL that he has “asked DOT to provide a time line for how long it will take to change the parking signs so that people do not have the mistaken impression that the alternate-side parking rules will be suspended indefinitely.” The Big Park Slope Parking Experiment begins on Monday. Meanwhile, Brownstoner is running a poll about whether the suspension is a good thing or a bad thing.
Pro-Alternate Side Parking Sentiment in Park Slope?
May 16th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Tags: Park Slope · Transportation
2 responses so far ↓
1 Janet // May 16, 2008 at 1:44 pm
For those who like clean streets and don’t park cars on the street, how can it be a good thing? Given the amount of curb space available in the ‘hood, I presume car owners are still in the minority here. But the people who don’t own cars don’t have as strong an opinion as those who do.
The only people for whom a shortening of the time has any relevance are the folks who are around during the day–again, a minority–so this “change” is no change for most car owners, who are scurrying around (in my neck of the woods) on Thursday evenings, looking for “a Friday spot”.
Yes, there are parts of Brooklyn which have no alternate parking at all. How do they do it?
And by the way, keeping a car in the same spot for weeks on end (possible every few years when Jewish and other holidays lead to suspension on the same day several weeks in a row) is an invitation to vandalism and theft.
2 Eric // May 16, 2008 at 9:39 pm
100% of neighborhood residents benefit from regularly cleaned streets. A minority of residents benefit from less-frequent alternate-side parking requirements.
Who wants to bet that a majority of CB6 members are car owners?